Saving grace

I get paid once a month.

It probably would be a challenge for most people to budget out an entire month on one check that comes in somewhat randomly.

It’s even more interesting for someone like me who is dancing on the razors edge between modest comfort and financial ruin.

My definition of modest comfort being in the black and still having enough left for gas and maybe a bit of monthly fun.  Right now is a much different story but I also recognize that compared to the rest of the world, let alone the rest of human existence, I live a life of luxury and leisure.

Sometimes it really sucks to have the long view.  Smacks your problems right down to size.  Still a bit of a reach for me to completely stomp them into oblivion though.

I eat alone three days a week. I tend not to eat much those three days. It’s just too much bother unless there’s something quick and easy.

I try to cook enough on the weekend so that there are leftovers but that doesn’t always work out.  Sometimes they disappear over the weekend.

Towards the end of the month, pickings get slim. I buy most things in bulk so the budget goes quick.  Don’t get me wrong, there is always food in this house. I just don’t want to have to cook any of it.

Cooking during the week takes too much time after I’ve worked a long day unless I’m really in the mood and I’m usually not.

Cereal is good.  Quick, easy and not completely horrific for me depending on what I fill the bowl with.

Only problem is that the youngest is about to hit a growth spurt and is eating everything that’s not nailed down.  People always tell me that boys are the worst about cleaning out a kitchen and larder.  They haven’t met my little piranhas.

The little wench ate all the cereal.

Stood in front of the fridge the other night stumbling for something that wasn’t going to take too long.

Stocking the freezer to the rescue.

If you don’t already know the joys of what can be done with a whole roasted chicken then I would recommend you learn as a general life skill.  As one of my favorite authors said, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

One of the best parts of the roasted chicken is the stock made with it and stock freezes wonderfully.

I try to always have on hand two sizes of frozen stock.  The larger one is for making a soup or risotto.  The smaller for making a quick couple of bowls of yum.

Last nights variation on a theme was frozen tortellini in broth and a cheese and cracker plate that used up the last of a couple of sleeves.  Cheddar and wheat crackers and I dolloped some fig spread on the black pepper water crackers.

An apple would have gone great with this but she ate all of those too.

Dinner was ready in less than 15 minutes.  Perfect.

When I end up with extra I drain out the tortellini as soon as I fill my bowl.  The quicker they cool down the quicker they’ll stop cooking and the more likely they are to stay al dente.  They also dry out a bit which is good because it helps them hold up when you put the leftovers away.

I don’t like mushy pasta.

Good thing the youngest isn’t here otherwise she’d probably have eaten the leftovers by now, potentially mushy pasta or not.

It’s going to be interesting to see how tall she ends up.

Her sister is shorter than me by a couple of inches and hasn’t grown in ten years.

I’m wondering if she might end up taller than me.  That’ll be a new experience.

They are my angels, even when they descend like locust.